Philosopher's Travels
by Literature work
Summary: The Homunculi have the Philosopher's stone in their grasp. The only thing keeping them from unleashing it's power is Ed and Al's cooperation. In an attempt to save his brother's life, Al accidentally sends Ed to another dim-mention with the power of the stone. Will the teen titans help Ed save his brother? Or will the Homunculi get to Ed first? Please review.
1. Chapter 1

CHAPTER 1

The Kidnapping

Ed's head was whipped back by a swift kick to the jaw, and his body was thrown to the ground like a limp sack of yams. All the flesh and bones in his body ached. The only part of him that he could really count on the keep moving was his right arm, which was shackled to his left by a heavy wooden wrist stock. He couldn't even clap his hands together where as moving them at all was impossible. Ed's only defense was to lay on the ground like a slug and hope that the Homunculi wouldn't give him a fatal blow to the head. They held his life in their inhuman, abnormal, sinful grasp, and he held his brother's life within his own mouth. A pitiful scream was heard from the corner of the stone chamber. Two of the devil creatures were hanging onto a struggling tin can, as they tried to rip its chest plate off. His brother, Al, was writhing in his own shackles, trying to keep the monsters off him, but a suit of armor is no match for two desperate Homunculi. A bright stream of red blew through the entire room, as the chest plate was ripped off and carelessly thrown to the side. Al's impassive helmet structure, looked as if it could cry as he looked down at the blood red rock in his chest. The Philosopher's stone, lit up the room in its entrancing lit, and smothered any candles in the dark dungeon. That was exactly what the Homunculi were after.

As the two boys struggled against their restraints, a single voice cried out through all the chaos. "It's over Fullmetal," the lady said calmly from the room's stairwell. She stepped carefully down the cobblestone stairs and crossed the chamber to the rest of the crowd. A normal gaze would recognize her as a regular secretary worker, but Ed and Al saw her as another Homunculi, their mom. "This is checkmate, you got no more moves to take that will spare both you and your brother's life," she threatened with her soft voice, which cut through Al's armor like razor blades.

"It's not checkmate, Sloth," Ed managed to say through his exhausted lungs and beaten mouth. He painfully turned his head to look at the thing he regrettably created and so desperately hated. His Mother's face gleamed at him in utter curiosity. He managed a half hearted smirk, "The only things keeping me alive are the instructions on how to use the stone. If you kill me before I say them, you have nothing," he said weakly. All of the Homunculi looked at Sloth. She glared impassively at the boy whom she could make only a hazy recognition. Though he tiredly gasped for air, the boy surprisingly continued. "I am not the only one keeping my brother alive you know," he threatened the Hommunculi, edging even closer to the end of his rope. "You can't kill him, or you lose the entire game , sloth." He brought in another shaky breath, "If you kill him, you lose the stone." Ed gave a weak laugh.

"No, Ed." Sloth said more coolly than ever, "I still have pieces on the board. There is more than one way to hatch an egg, and killing you was not one of my options." She smoothly walked over and crouched down to where Ed laid sprawled upon the floor. Her cold, careless hand ran through the blood matted hair on his head. He tried fending off her evil touch, but he could only throw a menacing stare at her. "There are certain things, my friend Wrath wants from you." Her arm moved from his head, and jabbed Ed in the left fleshy arm. "Your arm might be a nice match to his other one. Maybe that might change your mind." Wrath, who was the one who gave him the grateful round house, made a menacing smile at him as he moved towards his reward. Ed tried to crawl away, pushing himself with his left leg, but was thrown to the side as his pursuer treated him to another kick to the ribs. Al screamed. Another kick to the side, flung Ed to the center of the death chamber, strangling to keep his consciousness. His vision was blurring in and out, as his mind swam for the shallows. The only thing keeping his concentration was Al's pitiful struggle against his captors. The last thing he heard was a thunderous clap, and a bright flash of red.


	2. Chapter 2

CHAPTER 2

The Half Metal Boy

Rubble and cement flew everywhere as the team looked blindly into the dust cloud which was shrouding their vision. Lightning fast beams shot out of at them from every direction, missing the teenagers by only a few centimeters. Raven carefully covered her teammates in a dark veil as a stray beam hurdled itself right towards them. The laser was put out like an old sparkler as soon as it hit the mysterious black field. As the dust settled from the battle ground, a single pitiful looking man stood on top of the heap of dirt and crumbled road. Cyborg, though low on steam, both literal and emotional, started to shoot his own sonic gun at their attacker, but to his dismay, was averted by another light ray and fizzled to nothing.

"Why can't we just get this over with!" screamed the little green Beast Boy, into Raven's ear. As another laser shot towards them, the two of them tumbled out of the way. Though Dr. Light was probably the easiest villain the Titians have ever faced, his new laser gun was creating a whole new obstacle for them. The entire team was covered in dirt and sweat as they tried, so many times to advance on their light footed foe, who kept throwing a few more laser beams whenever they got close. "Raven, why don't you scare him again with your creepy black magic stuff?! He always surrenders when he's afraid of the dark." Beast Boy screamed at her as their other two teammates, Robin and Starfire started in for an aerial attack.

"It won't work unless we get close, but that obviously isn't an option for us right now!" she yelled monotone back at the silly looking kid. Another laser bounded at them, Raven threw her cloak around Beast Boy and in a swift movement disappeared into the earth, only to pop up again on the opposite side of the street. Robin and Starfire crashed to their feet as a failed result to their aerial pursuit. Cyborg soon joined them, his bionic body smoking from a recent laser impact.

"We can't keep going unless we get that cannon away from him!" Cyborg yelled over the crashing of cement blocks.

"If we can't go straight for him, we will need to get him by surprise." Robin said to them as his mind already working on many possibilities for their next move. "Starfire, Beast Boy, Cyborg, you three go in for a straight shot attack. Keep him occupied and make sure he is confused," he commanded. The three kids just nodded their heads without a word. "Raven, you take me around to the back and we can come up from below him, taking him by surprise." Everybody looked around at each other's battle worn faces. Dirt covered their skin and dusted their hair, and each one had a couple of open scratches on their arms and knees which stung with the windy night air. But their eyes were lit up at the ready, filled with adrenaline for one more attack. "Teen Titians!... GO!" screamed Robin at the top of his lungs.

"Let's hit this light!" laughed Beast Boy before he turned into a small green barn owl.

As the team ran towards Dr. Light, and as his energy beam warmed up for another round of shots, deep red sparks started to fly in all directions between them, silencing any motion for attack. A heavy, threatening, wind swirled around the intersection picking up all of the rubble into a small dust devil. Everyone in the square froze in their places looking around cautiously at the growing red tornado. Street lights flickered and burst into small electric fireworks spraying the Titians with embers. Raven took them all under her cloak, as she did before, and faded into the air, leaving Dr. Light paralyzed in fear as the red lightning grew. A split second after the teenagers left, the red ball blew into a thunderous explosion, grasping Dr. Light in its arms. The asphalt was ripped up and all of the glass windows were blasted out of their frames, raining to the ground in smithereens. The shock wave was felt from miles throughout the city as a giant mushroom cloud cultivated in the street. When the bomb slowed to a halt, a shallow crater was left in the middle of the four-way which was all but destroyed. A dark cloud of black mist returned to the battle field and dropped the five Titians back on the rubble covered earth. They all gazed around at the result of the spontaneous explosion. Dr. Light, who was flown into the air from the red lightning, crashed down in front of them, still holding his laser cannon, which was now a crumpled pile of scrap metal. Beast Boy gave a small victorious chuckle and elbowed Robin in the ribs. "We could go through with your plan, Robin, or we could just do that!" Robin gave a muffled grumble.

"But what was that?" Starfire asked the little green Yoda.

"I think it might have been him," Raven said twenty feet in the air. Her hand was pointing down towards the shallow crater. The four others climbed over a monstrous pile of rubble to get a better look at the depression. Inside, lying prone on the ground was a small blond haired boy.


	3. Chapter 3

_Author's Note: Sorry for not posting in a while, but I needed to redo this chapter. It is quite different so I hope you like it. Let me know how it goes._

_..._

Ed woke up screaming. His head was a blur, full of static and migraines. The only thing he could remember was his brother's struggle, but what for? Terrible bloody images flashed through his mind so fast he couldn't make sense, and yet the same one kept popping up; his brother bound in chains, fighting for something. Ed screamed his name again, "AL!"And several voices called out to him in the swirling world above him. Five strange figures stood above him in shock. Ed tried to get up off of the ground, but his muscles were burnt out. A hand reached out to gently push him back down.

"Don't get up, your severely injured," the girl's voice said calmly to him.

"Where's Al? Why can't I see straight? What's going on?" Ed wheezed, his chest felt like it weighed a ton. Every breath came with a battle. Hands started to rip off his jacket, which laid in scraps. A small cold hand touched his ribcage. Ed winced at the pressure.

"Everything will be okay. As I could tell you have three broken ribs and a severe concussion is causing your vision to blur. Please don't try to move, this might hurt… A lot" the girl said calmly. Right where her hand was placed, a great sweltering pain started coming from his rib cage. He felt his bones move and crack, as the material started to reline itself with in him. Ed let out a terrified scream as his body started to change. Energy started to rush into him, and his muscles began to move properly. The thunderstorm in his head started to drift to shallows as the girl continued to push her hands against him. Piercing light started to burn his eyes. Vision started focusing and street lamps shone in his face above him. With one last jolt of pain, his body felt normal. Completely healthy and together. "There, I fixed your ribs back in place, and I reduced your head trauma to a minor head wound. You still might feel dizzy and weak, but that will wear off in a day or two." The voice said back to her.

"What?" Ed mumbled towards the figures. He slowly propped himself on his left arm and focused his clearing vision on the shadows around him. A dark hooded girl sat next to him, propping her arm underneath him for support. The street lights still shone in his face and he covered the glare with his metallic arm. A second person came around to his other side, and propped him up under his arm into a standing position. Ed, flinched expecting pain, but none came. Only his muscles remained sore. He turned to the kid next to him, and nearly lost his terrible balance. The boy was green! He looked around at all the other people around him. They were all wearing weird clothing, one was flying, and another was completely robotic. Ed took a few awkward steps back from the crowd, and fell back to the ground. "Oh no." He shook his head vigorously side to side, his blond blood stained braid swayed with him. "No, No, No!" he screamed. _Not again! Not again! _He looked around in an utter panic, looking for a familiar face. "AL!" he yelled out. Too weak to stand by himself he started to crawl away from the five figures around him. He needed to find his brother. The dark images flashed through his head again. "AL!" he screamed again, but a heavy hand lay on his shoulder.

"Calm down son," the deep voice said. "Everything is okay. We can help you, just take it easy." It was the robot. His metal body stooped down next to him. Ed tried to get away from him, but the tin can held him tight.

"I need to get back!" Ed screamed throwing his fist at the fleshy face of the robot. The punch knocked the man off balance and he let go of Ed's arm. He fell to the ground again. "I need to help my brother!" Just then the dark girl protruded out of the ground in a dark mist. She slammed Ed to the ground on his back and pinned him.

"Stop for one second and listen to us!" she scolded him in a deep deviled voice. His energized body went from adrenaline to shaking fear. Ed's entire body froze on the spot, he couldn't move at all. The girl backed away from the little blond haired child. After smoothing her complexion, she said in a normal teenaged voice, "Now tell us, Who are you, and what happened?"

"I am Edward Elric," he choked. He couldn't take his eyes from the terrifying girl. _Is she a Homunculus? How else could she do all of those abnormal things? _Ed looked around at the rest of the teenagers. They all looked, in their own way human, but strangely different. Freakishly different. Just like the devils back home. _They could all be homunculi. _He cleared his throat as if to muster up some courage for the foolish thing he was about to do. "I am, the Fullmetal Alchemist," he said to the world as his hands slapped together. Surprised at his luck, an electrical charge formed within him. Alchemy. Ed slammed his fists to the ground and shook the earth. The street started to buckle in waves carrying him away from the shoreline of teenagers. As he rode the wave down the street, he heard a boy's voice cry out behind him, "Teen Titans, GO!" A green light seared through the air and hit Ed's right arm off balance. His wave crumbled to the ground and he was shot across the street. The tall red head girl was flying at him with glowing green eyes, and fiery hands. After his hands connected, Ed shot a blast of condensed exploding air at the girl, who was blown back at contact. Though she was down, two more teenagers took his place. The green boy and robot started to charge him. The tin mad started to shoot lasers around his feet. Ed shielded his face as dust and blue burning sparks kicked back at him. He heard a beastly roar from behind the dirt cloud. A green lion jumped through the smoke and tackled him to the ground. Teeth and claws flashed everywhere, but his auto mailed arm was caught in the beast's mouth. Ed grinned. "Next time, go for the other one, Chimera!" he laughed at the creature. A pillar rose from beneath the lion's feet and smacked the animal in the stomach. It was thrown back, and the human boy reappeared clutching his stomach. Ed grabbed onto the boy's shirt and hurled him at the robot. Direct hit. As both of the boys fell to the ground, Ed started to run down a couple of dark alleyways. He got passed a couple of streets before he realized that no one was following him. His feet slowed to a fast walk. A relieved gasp escaped from his mouth. "So glad that's over with," he panted to himself. Just then a staff flew down and smacked the ground in front of him, grasping Ed's attention. A black haired boy stood in the alley way in a defensive stance. A mask covered his eyes, but a thrilled grin was plastered across the kid's face.

"It's not over until the game is through," the kid said. His fist flew towards the blonde haired boy, but instead of hitting any soft tissue, his knuckles slammed into a wall of steel. Ed laughed back at him, and threw a welcoming punch of his own. His metal fist smacked the boy right in the jaw. Though knocked back, the boy came at Edward again, wielding his staff. With one swift motion, the kid tripped Ed off of his feet sending him to the ground. Ed held his hands up in defense as the metal stick swung down towards him for another blow. With his arm held firmly against the powerful blade, Ed tried to bring his left hand up to connect with his right, but a foot slammed down crushing his wrist. "Don't think you're going to be doing that again." By that time, the rest of the teenagers were joining up in the alley where Ed was pinned to the ground. They all looked at their victorious friend in wonder, as Ed was tied up, for the second time that day.

The Robot man slung Ed over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes, and the teenagers carried him back through the streets where they came. Ed hung over the steel back in utter shame. As he wallowed in his defeat, the shadowed girl followed behind him quietly. After a couple streets, the girl asked, "So Ed, what was all that back there?" He looked up pitifully and studied her for the first time since she found him in the road. She was wearing all black clothes with a dark purple cape around her. He peered under the hood a bit to notice that deep blue eyes glowed on another wise gloomy face.

"Simple Alchemy," he stated.

"Alchemy, isn't that some sort of voodoo stuff?" the robot guy piped in. Ed rolled his eyes, and slumped back over, but the green goblin popped up out of nowhere, right in his face.

"What's Alchemy?"

"People here obviously don't know anything," Ed said under his breath. The kid surprisingly didn't hear him, because he still wore a questioning look on his goofy face, along with an outrageously cheery atmosphere. As he was about to answer, the hooded girl yanked the boy out of Ed's face and interrupted him.

"Alchemy is a science that studies the decomposition and reconstruction of elements," she informed the baboon, but his confused face just got worse. "In other words, Beast Boy, He can change gold into lead."

"That's it?" he complained. Ed was insulted by his disappointment. Alchemy was obviously bigger than that, but the idiot didn't seem to understand simple science. After the long time of walking, Ed was dropped in front of a sleek silver car. Unfortunately, the Robot forgot he was actually alive, and really did drop him on the ground. After smacking his head off of the gravel, Ed was pushed into the vehicle along with all of the other teenagers, though he was the only one with his limbs tied up. Long silence awaited them as the car drove through the unknown city. Ed tried to get a few good glimpses out the window at the strange buildings, but since he was sandwiched between two child soldiers, it was barely possible. As the car stopped at a sign, the red headed girl jumped excitedly and gave a small giggle, slightly frightening Ed with her enthusiastic personality after the entire situation they were through.

"I can't believe it!" she cried. "We completely forgot to introduce ourselves!" Ed wriggled in his bonds, and gave her his best 'no duh' looks, but she was completely oblivious to it. "I am Starfire," she said cheerfully. "The green one is Beast Boy, Cyborg, Raven, and Robin!" She said pointing around to the passengers in the car. Robin, the masked wonder, stared back at Ed annoyed.

"Let me say you gave wonderful first impressions," Ed said sarcastically. The girl just giggled while the other's growled at him. "Now, when can I get out of these?" he said lifting his tied hands in the air.

"Once when you give us answers," Robin said back to him sternly, and he dropped his hands in disappointment.

"You know Ed, when I asked you what happened back there, I didn't mean your alchemy," Raven said calmly. She stared distantly out the window next to him. "I meant what happened to you. How did you get here?" There was a long pause. Flashes of images ran through his mind like a race car. Al's terrible screams rang in his ear, and the blood splattered ground haunted his head.

"I don't want to talk about it," he mumbled, and the girl nodded.

"Well then, I guess you aren't going to get your hands untied, because we can't let you go unless we know you aren't a threat," Robin said to him even ruder than anticipated. Ed sighed and let his memories dive back into the hell that he encountered.

"I am a State Alchemist for Central City," he started. "I was on a research mission with my brother when we were attacked and captured. They held us captive in the dungeons of the forgotten Castle of Homestria. They tortured me for days on end, trying to make me spill some deadly information, but when they started to bring my brother into the mess, I tried to stop them. One of them knocked me out and I woke up here," Ed finished. That was the simplest way he could put it. Gloomy silence filled the automatable. Even the overly optimistic Starfire, fell to silence's cold grasp.

"Who where the people that did these awful things to you?" she asked quietly.

"The Hommunculi," Ed said as if the word were acid. Everyone in the car looked around curiously at each other. Raven gave the slightest gasp as the car went over a bump.


	4. Chapter 4

CH4

Residence

A car drove up to the tower at 1:00 in the morning. The young superheroes tiredly sulked into their house after a long night's work. Ed got out of the car finally free of his bondages, and stretched his sore body to its fullest extent. Not knowing what else to do, he followed the acquaintances into the dark building. Florescent lights flickered on in the lobby, and several of the Titans laid slumped over in leather chairs. Only Robin stood, pacing around as if still full of energy. Having no chair to sit in, Ed sat his tired body cross legged on the ground. Robin studied him for a little bit, and stopped his pacing to stand right in front of him.

"I suppose you don't have anywhere else to stay, and given the circumstances, we will allow you to stay here for the time being, at least until we find a way to get you back home," Robin said to him. It was the closest thing to nice it seemed Robin could get to Ed. For that, Ed gave him a thankful smile.

"I plan on getting home as soon as I can," Ed said. As he stiffly got up, the Titans started to lead him down the long labyrinth of hallways that they call Titans Tower. After a couple of twists and turns, the group of them stopped in front of a steel door.

"This will be your room for now," Robin sternly said, but the sandman obviously smacked him in the face for that because he gave a growling yawn. "Better get off to bed, don't know what tomorrow will bring," he gave with one more final yawn. As everyone started to crawl back to their rooms, Beast Boy dragged himself over to the new resident, and handed him a pile of fresh laundry.

"I noticed you barely had any clothes left, so I figured that I would give you some of mine. Since we are about the same height and stuff I figured they would fit," he said cheerfully as he could. Ed gave a thankful nod and took the pile from the goblin's arms. As the kid started to stumble down the hall, Ed called after him.

"Hey, Beast Boy," he said after him. "How old are you?" Beast Boy turned to him as if no one has ever asked him that before.

"Fourteen," he answered scratching his head. At those words Ed basically cried on the inside. A person two years younger than him was the same height. How worse could this get? As the green boy set off for his own room, Ed walked into his. It was a small single room with a bed, chest, window, and desk. The basics. He flopped onto his bed and looked at his clothes. Though knowing they were tattered, Ed was still shocked about how bad they looked. His chest laid bare and open, as black and red cloth fell around his waist. The shirt and jacket that once laid on his torso were completely shredded, except for his sleeves which though worn, still covered his arms. Ed chuckled a bit at his obliviousness and started to change into the t shirt and red hoodie the kid gave him. As he slipped his arm into the sleeve, his auto mail gave a stiff jerk and an aching squeal.

"Damn," he huffed to himself. His arm must have been bend out of shape or lost a few bolts. _If only Winry were here._ He kicked his left leg around and flinched as it gave the same ear splitting noise. "Damn," he mumbled again.


	5. Chapter 5

CH 5

The Mechanic's Tale

Cyborg woke up in his bed to a growling stomach circuit. He tried to ignore it, but the bear just started to claw harder at his belly. Looking at his clock he read 4:00 AM. It was too late for a midnight snack, so Cyborg decided to go for an extremely early breakfast.

Down in the kitchen, Cyborg crawled to the refrigerator and opened the glowing heaven to find nothing short of a early morning feast. He quickly shoved Beast Boy's nasty tofu aside, and began his carnivorous snack on a leftover chicken leg. As Cyborg filled his bolts and wires with some food, a small hushed noise came from the living room couch. Though his stomach begged him to continue his breakfast, Cyborg was pirched on alert. The noise came again but a little softer than the first time. It sounded like a squeaky door hinge. Using only the light of refrigerator, he charged his arm into a sonic gun and aimed for the living room. "Whose there?" he asked furiously. At the boom of his voice a hand shot up in the air in a panicked surrender.

"Don't shoot!" Ed screamed in utter fear. He scrambled to straighten himself up so that his assaulter could see him.

"You scared the shit out of me man," Cyborg scolded as he returned his arm to its normal form. As he closed the fridge, he tapped his arm a couple times to turn on the lights with his mainframe. "What are you doing down here?" Ed looked at him as if he couldn't decide whether to answer, but then he chuckled.

"I guess I needed a hand," Ed joked shyly. When Cyborg got over to the couch, he noticed that Ed's right shoulder simply stopped there. On his lap laid a arm mechanism torn to bits by a wrench and a screw driver. Cyborg sat down next to him and took a while to study the simple technology of the kid's arm.

"I definitely didn't see that coming," Cyborg said half mindedly as he turned the arm over in his own electronic hands. It looked like it was made out of simple screws and bolts, and didn't' have the wax finished that his own body had. The prosthetic had several scratches and scrapes down the worn out steel and looked like it was bent at an awkward angle. "I can't believe it," He said. "To have such a good arm with so little technology. How did you make it?"

"I don't know nuts and bolts about mechanical doodads, my auto mailist makes them for me," Ed said. "You and everyone else took quite a toll on it I was just having a hard time moving it."

"Well you won't get it done with a wrench that's for sure," Cyborg chuckled at him. "Come with me, I will help you fix it up." As Cyborg helped pick up the pieces of the boy's auto mail, Ed stood up to follow him out the door, but quickly sat down as his leg screamed out again and a hot pain flew up his thigh. "Aren't you coming?" Cyborg asked him.

"I am having a bit of trouble with my leg."

Cyborg helped Ed down to the Garage where he started to dismantle the limbs. While Cyborg was welding, driving, and rewiring the limbs, Ed sat on the floor with is a-symmetrical body leaning against the car tire. He hated being amputated more than anything, but with the constant marveling comments coming from his mechanic dazzling over his limbs, he thought it wasn't half bad. When the blow torch and hammering had stopped, it was seven in the morning. Ed watched the robotic human studying his work for the slightest flaw and imperfection on the new limbs, while his own body looked still battle worn from the prior evening. Everything on Cyborg was covered in metal except the upper corner of his face, which bore a deep black skin tone and lively brown eyes. He was surely human, just like Ed was, just there was less of him there. More than a limb was take from that kid's body, and it could never be replaced.

"So, what happened?" Ed asked the machine. Cybork flipped up his welding mask to get a better look at him.

"Well, your arm and leg were both bent a little out of shape which made the joints grind against each other. Several pieces of rubble were jammed in your wrist fraction, and your limbs were about several months overdue for some good oiling," Cyborg informed him. He brought the auto mail over to where the amputee laid and sat down next to him.

"What happened to you?" Ed reworded his question. The room stood quiet for a couple moments, until Cyborg let out a depressing sigh and set the mail down next to him.

"There are some stories which are too tough for one to tell," Cyborg said to him. The robot let his mind wander a bit, trying to remember the terrible night in full detail. "But I will try my best," he sighed. "I was a rebellious son of my two scientist parents. I didn't like the fact that they tried to force me into the scientific field while I was more of an athlete. I did quite a bunch of stupid stuff back then," Cyborg said with a small feeble chuckle. "But one night in the lab one of my parent's experiments got loose and killed my mother. It basically destroyed half of my body before anyone stopped it." Bloody flashes swarmed his memories, as Cyborg gave a haunting pause. "But my Dad saved me," he said hopefully. "No matter all of the stupid stuff I put myself through, and no matter what I did to get under his skin over the years, my dad picked me up in his arms and fixed me with this body," he finished. Ed was almost put to tears. There was a long respectful pause as both of the mutilated teenagers reviewed his own past. A haunting, all too familiar gaze hung on both of their eyes. After a while, Cyborg looked over at Ed. "So how bout you?" he asked softly. The air was thick with discomfort but had a slight sent of faith. Cyborg sensed it from the short boy who sat next to him. Ed took in a deep regretful breath down memory lane.

"One thing that you should know is that there are laws of alchemy," Ed said with his eyes still a blank gaze. "One can't simply create something out of nothing, and what force they receive from the transmutation one must give that back." Pause. "When I was two and my brother was just an infant my Dad left for no apparent reason out of the blue. He wasn't like your dad at all. He didn't care what happened to us because he never came back. To us, our mother was all we had, but when an incurable illness came to her, she died," Ed shuttered. "He didn't even come back for her funeral." His body went cold as his words continued to pour his story. "In Alchemy, there is one specific law that no one should ever break, and me and my brother broke it."

"You tried to bring your mother back," said a dark monotone voice. Raven stood at the door of the garage. Ed and Cyborg looked up in surprise of their unexpected guest. She quietly drifted over to where they laid on the floor, and sat down next to them with her legs crossed. After adjusting to the new audience, Ed gave a depressed nod.

"Wait how can you bring someone back to life? It's impossible." Cyborg asked quietly.

"Water, 35 liters. Carbon, 20 kilograms. Ammonia, 4 liters. Lime, 1.5 kilograms. Phosphorous, 800 grams. Salt, 250 grams. Saltpeter, 100 grams. Sulfur, 80 grams. Fluorine, 7.5, iron, 5, silicon, 3 grams, and trace amounts of 15 other elements. That is all you need to make a human body," Ed said reading off the memorized ingredients. "But one thing that can't simply be made was a soul. Through the law of equivalent exchange, I and my brother paid the price. I paid with my leg and my brother with his whole body, but that still wasn't enough." Ed grabbed the remaining stump where his left leg would have been, and held it as if to calm his head of the lightning images going through his head. Raven put her hand on his right shoulder.

"I think we should get you back together before the others awake," she said softly.

The two Titans helped the limping Ed over to the couch on the other side of the garage. Cyborg carried the two auto mail pieces over to them. He placed to the left of Ed and held the arm up to his right.

"Okay, this is going to hurt," Cyborg said carefully, "A lot." He mainly directed it to Raven, as if to warn her about what was to come next. As Cyborg jammed the steel limb into the metal Socket of the boy's arm, Ed gave howling scream. Raven tackled the thrashing kid as her friend made a couple of final adjustments to the arm. After the entire commotion stopped Ed was let go in a gasping pant.

"That hurts worse every time I get it fixed," he huffed as cold sweat tickled his burning shoulder. What felt like needles prickled up his body as the nerves in his shoulder connected to the functions of his arm. He started to flex his fingers. A sigh escaped from all of the teenagers.

"Glad that's over with," Cyborg said foolishly, but Raven pointed down to Ed's leg.

"Cyborg, we still have one more."


	6. Chapter 6

CHAPTER 6

Alchemic Terror

All of the Titans were sitting at the breakfast table scarffing down their own buffet of eggs, waffles, and for Beast boy, his vegan soy based foods. Ed slowly poked around the kitchen area, trying to figure out what devices would do what job, and which ones actually had the food in them. He glanced at Robin who was waiting outside of a dark metal box for a frozen breakfast burrito he put inside. When Robin took it out, the frosted burrito was steaming hot and its gooey shell was turned into a crispy delight. Raven took her turn at the box and put in her own cup of tea. After pushing a few buttons, yet again the device heated up the food she put inside it.

"Dude, it's called a microwave," Beast Boy said behind him. He must have caught the way Ed was investigating the boxed object, like it was a UFO or a universal remote with too many buttons. He calmly slid by him and put in his own tofu waffles. "All you do is put food in here and press start," Beast Boy instructed. After waiting a few seconds, he opened the door and took out his waffle. "Simple."

As the green kid left for the table, Ed pondered around the room for something to make. He found a box of burritos and slammed one into the microwave. He watched the oven light up and cook his food as it spun around on a little tray. Its soft tortilla shell turned from frosty white, to crispy brown. The burrito started to swelter and grow like a small balloon. '_Is it suppose to do that?'_ Just as Ed turned around to ask somebody for help the premade breakfast delight exploded and turned instantly into a cleaning nightmare. Beans and cheese coated the inside of the microwave and the shell laid in pieces on the turntable. "Oops," Ed muttered. Beast Boy laughed and nearly choked on his waffle.

"You forgot to take it out man!" he laughed nearly falling out of his chair. Ed scooped his breakfast mush into a bowl and sat down at the table with the others. They were all laughing at the state of his burrito. As everyone was rolling around the kitchen in utter amusement, Ed quietly clapped his hands together and placed them on the bowl. In an instant his bowl of goo became a neatly wrapped freshly baked, non microwave, breakfast burrito. Ed ate it with a clever smirk, while the Titans looked at him in awe.

"How did you do that?" Beast Boy cried. His eyes were still full of tears after the laughing fest they all just had. A hand whipped behind him and smacked him cross the head.

"He is an alchemist remember?" Raven said.

"Oh yeah, that whole lead to gold thing," he said with a few air quotes. "So can you really do it?"

Ed swallowed his breakfast. "Yes, but it is illegal since it would mess up the economy. It also wouldn't be real gold either, just a type of metal with the exact same properties as gold. A lot heavier too, but if you get someone greedy enough to believe it, they would buy anything." He gave a small chuckle.

"You did it before didn't you?" Robin glared at him. He obviously was never a rule breaker and didn't care for the likes of them either.

"Yes, as a matter of fact I did," Ed stated plainly. Everybody gasped as if it was a sin to break one tiny law. He rolled his eyes. "It was nothing like that," he chirped. "A while back, when I first became a state alchemist, I was sent to help a mining village, which turned out to be run by a fat greedy land lord. He ran businesses into the ground and bought them for cheap just so the original owners had to pay a fee to live in their own building. I bought the deeds back for what seemed to be a large stack of gold, but it turned out to be a pile of dirt. I got the deeds for free and gave them back to the owners." Ed gave a confidents stare at the masked boy. "I really don't see a problem in that," he said plainly. Robin gave a grumble.

A red flashing light went off in the tower followed by a piercing siren. While all of the Titans stood alert watching crime information appear on computer screens, Ed was knocked to the floor with the sudden change of events. Though the sirens were loud, soft tiny explosions could be heard outside in the city across the bay. "What's going on?" He screamed silently to the teenagers.

Robin glared down at him sternly. "Trouble."


	7. Chapter 7

CHAPTER 7

Uncontrolled

Red sparks leaped through the sky as buildings collapsed to the ground where they once stood. Sirens and alarms rang through the streets like church bells as more of the city was sent to ruins. Rubble fell from the sky and streets were torn to scraps as the asphalt was torn from the ground as if it were only grass. Though every citizen ran for cover from the unnatural phenomenon, three figures stood in the middle of it all watching the town's undoing.

"This is almost too easy," Jinx said flipping her pink hair out of her face. She snapped her fingers and with a few more red sparks tapped into an ATM across the street. Green flew everywhere around them. Her partners Gizmo and Mammoth flung down on the ground to pick up their prize. Several canvas bags were slung to their backs already filled to the brim with pieces from pawn shops and jewelry stores. Jinx looked down at the red gem she held in her hand. Its blood red color was almost deadly to look at, but its power surged through her as she grasped it. _Let them eat their money, hell, let them take it all. This is worth more than a few good banks worth._ She maliciously grinned and chuckled as she snapped her fingers a few more times sending out more red sparks from the rock.

"Jinx, you had that thing for long enough," Gizmo's bratty voice complained. "I want to see what my tech can do with it."

Jinx glared at him protectively. "Finders, keepers," she taunted as she wave the large red stone in his face. "I bet you don't even know how to use it."

"I bet you don't even know what that thing is," mumbled Mammoth. He grabbed his own loot and slung it over his back. Car wheels screeched from the street behind them and a giant silver automobile crashed down next to them.

"Haven't you learned by now that robbing banks gets you nowhere but jail," the Boy Wonder yelled at them. Six teenagers filed out of the car. The Teen Titans. Jinx laughed at them.

"Haven't you learned not to fool around with bad luck?" Jinx cackled as she snapped her fingers.

…

Red Sparks flew towards the car and sent it to flames. Ed was sent to the ground with Starfire as automobile parts flew everywhere. "Does she normally do that?" Ed asked her.

"Yes, it is quite the ordinary," she screamed back at him. A few green bolts shot out of her palm as she launched herself at the pink haired foe. Ed flipped over to his stomach to shield himself as a boulder was launched through the air by the large hairy guy. Dust flew everywhere shrouding his vision, but he still heard the Titans fighting in the background. Several sparks flew out of nowhere and almost nicked is head, but missed. As the dust settled, Ed tried to stand up, but a giant claw slammed down right in front of him making him lose his balance. A Tiny little midget strapped to some four legged device was standing over him.

"Who the heck is this Pint sized loser?" the midget yelled at his preoccupied friends.

"Who are you calling pint sized you under grown weasel!" Ed screamed at him. His hands clapped together and slammed down to the ground. A giant pillar aroused out of the broken asphalt and knocked the mechanical spider down. Ed ran towards the little kid, but a rock plowed him into the ground at Robin's feet.

"Watch yourself," he scolded as he picked Ed off the ground. The hairy man who threw the boulder charged for the two of them. Robin launched himself at the attacker wielding a short staff. Ed followed him with his shifted auto mail blade. The two of them slashed kicked and punched at the towering being, who stood like a rock against their attacks. With one bludgeoning swing, the giant knocked Boy Wonder to the ground. As Mammoth was about to go for a skull breaking jab, Ed leaped on top of the thing's shoulders and covered the beast's face. The Giant's fists crushed the ground only a few inches away from Robin head. "Yo, watch it!" the Kid scolded again. Ed hung onto the bucking bull, as he swung around trying to free himself from Ed's hold.

"Get off of me!" a deep gargling voice said. A hand took hold of Ed's auto mail leg and swung him hard across the street. A sharp pain tore at his side as his body skidded across the pavement. He tumbled to a halt right in front of the pink haired witch. As stupid grin came over his face, but the girl snapped her fingers and red sparks launched him a few feet back. Ed launched himself at the girl and swung his blade at her. In a graceful jump she dodged it and launched her dist into a sidewinder. His hand caught it. As their fist stalled against each others, Ed caught a red glimmer coming from her other hand. A blood red stone poked out between her clenched fingers. As he stared at it, the girl caught the opportunity to give him a good kick to the face sending him backwards. Jinx snapped her fingers and red lightning started to break down a building. Rocks and cinder blocks came crushing down towards all the Warriors in the square. Just as a giant Pizza Bill board was about to crush Ed, black mist surrounded him, and he found himself standing at the other side of the street watching the metal pie crush to the ground. Raven stood behind him as all of the other Titans emerged from their own dark clouds.

"How'd she do that?" Cyborg asked everyone. "Jinx has never been able to take down an entire building at once."

"Yeah the most she really does is send pink little sparks at us and laugh a lot," Beast boy said. A few red lightning bolts came for them but Raven threw her hands out and a black veil came over them.

"It's the stone," Raven said. "It is enhancing her powers."

"What type of rock does that?"

"The Philosophers Stone," Ed said calmly.

Just then a large boulder broke through the shield and crashed down in front of the Titans. Robin gave the Battle cry and all of the Titans started to run in all directions. Ed followed Cyborg aimlessly. Red sparks licked at their heels as they bolted across the street. When Cyborg started to shoot his cannon, Ed clapped his hands together and sent a rolling wave of asphalt towards the pink one. She lost her balance and fell to the ground, the stone fell away from her. Robin ran to pick it up, but a tiny hand caught it first. The midget held the stone gleefully as his tech started to transform. The four large spider arms became eight and two plasma guns grew out of his backpack. It was painful to watch the tiny boy transform, but when he was done Gizmo gave him a wry smile.

"Lets see how many half pints we can fry!" he exclaimed. The two cannons the stone gave him started to fire at all of them, throwing dust around. Starfire threw a couple of bolts at the boy, but they bounced off of him like nothing. Ed and Cybrog hid in cover around the corner of the building. Gizmo's back was towards them preoccupied by the four other targets.

"Can you cover me?" Ed asked the robot man.

"Hell, I'll do anything to get those plama rays off of him," he replied.

Ed bolted around the corner and started to scream as he launched his metal foot at the back of the spider's head. Instead of kicking him however, Ed whipped over him and sliced the computer off of Gizmo's back. The little kid fell to the ground along with his crushed computer. The stone was thrown out of the midget's arms and rolled down the street. Ed started to run after the free flying rock. As it was about to drop down through a drainage pipe, Ed clapped his hands shifted the ground the other way. Stupidly, he fell to the ground unprepared for the sudden shift in the ground. As the stone rolled passed him, he reached out to stop it. As soon as he grasped it, electrical sparks started to fly around. His entire body surged and started to spit electricity. Winds picked up and filled the square with the gaining energy. Titans huddled together to watch in fear as their friend was consuming the stone's energy.

"What's going on?" Starfire screamed. Cyborg was analyzing his computer screen on his arm. He scrolled through the information and charts like a hurricane.

"The energy levels are off the charts! It's too much for his body capacity. He can't handle it!" Cyborg informed. Just as he said so Robin started to race towards the tornado of electricity. As he got close he launched his foot into a round house and knocked the stone out of Ed's hand. Ed was sent tumbling to the ground panting in utter exhaustion. The stone laid on the ground beside him glowing a deep red.

"Damn," Ed panted. Robin glared at the boy, though Ed saw a glimmer of fear through the dark mask of his.


	8. Chapter 8

CHAPTER 8

Intruder

"Thanks to you the Hive has escaped," Robin scolded Ed. The entire team was sitting around the lobby watching Ed. After the incident with the stone, they were all filled to the brim with questions, but only Robin had the stage. Ever since they got into the car, he has been steaming to the brim with frustration. "And another thank you for the hyperactive rock which destroyed half of market street!" he said with no ounce of sarcasm left out.

"Hey, I had no clue that thing came with me through the gate. Half a city isn't that bad anyway," Ed mumbled back at him.

"Not that bad? An entire street collapsed in a day by that stupid tiny rock. What did it do to you that half a city isn't that bad?" Robin rebuked. Ed looked up from his crossed position. His golden eyes burnt through the thin mask on the kid's face. His glare could have curdled dairy before it left the cow.

"Much worse than a half of a stupid city," he said breathing ice. "It wiped out entire civilizations, caused wars, killed millions of people, and yet people still try to find it. Stupid bastards still spend their entire lives trying to create one tiny stone that only destroys things. That tiny rock, that miniscule pebble is the reason for all of this! My brother and I wouldn't have gotten into this mess if it wasn't for that piece of…."

"Wait, this is what you were researching?" Raven asked him. "The reason why you were kidnapped was because you were researching the stone?" Ed placed his head in his hands to try to cool down from his outbursts. A heavy sigh came out of his mouth as he focused his frustration.

"Yes," he huffed. Starfire let out a tiny gasp. "When my brother lost his body, the only thing we thought of was to research the one thing that can ignore the law of equivalent exchange in order to get everything we lost back. It was a stupid idea. Nothing can ignore equivalent exchange, not even the stone."

"Okay, I am still fuzy on this whole alchemy stuff," Beast Boy said, "But how could a rock get all of that power in the first place?"

"Where do you think?" Ed said plainly. "Many people tried to avoid the actual recipe for the Philosophers stone, saying there is a more humane way to do it, but what it all comes down to is human lives." Everyone in the room gasped. Cyborg even dropped the energy sealed jar the stone was in. It tumbled to the ground and lay in the center of their conversation. "When I found that out, I wanted to stop looking for it, but for my brother's sake I couldn't. I instead tried to find alternate ways, without using a stone, to bring his body back," he said.

"So how was this one created if you didn't make it yourself?" Robin asked him still not letting down his guard. Ed glanced up at him and gave an devilish smirk.

"The thing about homunculi is that they can't use alchemy, but that doesn't mean they can't get other people to do it for them. It just so happened that me and my brother got caught in the mist of everything and they decided to pick us to make it," Ed said. "To make this frank, we said no, they said yes, we fought, another guy stepped in the middle, and there is the stone."

Beast boy mumbled a question about the homunculi to Raven, but she slapped him upside the head. "But if another person made it, why are these people still after you?" Cyborg questioned.

"Oh, that's because….." Ed started to hesitate, but then the sirens went off in the tower. Everyone took full on alert. Ed gave a relieved sigh as if literally saved by the bell. Robin started to run down the hallway towards the sound of the sirens.

"Intruders!" he yelled back at them, and all of the Titans followed. Raven, Starfire, and Hawk Beast Boy, flew down the corridor while Ed tried to keep his short legs in pace with the others as they ran towards the doors. As the group approached the security break, they heard a hard rapping on their front door. "It's probably Jinx back for the stone. Everybody, when those doors open have at it," Robin commanded. The thuds started to grow louder and louder. Along with the deafening alarm, the noise was almost unbearable. With one more knock, the giant steel doors fell over and the Titans charge the tall figure standing on their front door step. Instead of fighting back however, the shadow dodged all of its oncoming foes and charged towards the short blonde boy in the back.

"AL!" Ed screamed with utter joy, as the suit of armor stooped down to pick him up. As soon as Al started to hug his brother, lightning started to jump out of Ed's body. "Al put me down!" Ed scolded.

"Opps. Sorry I forgot," Al's childish voice came out of the suit. He put his brother down on the ground and the electricity in the air calmed down. Ed brushed off his clothes and looked up to notice the Titans staring at him in disbelief. He gave an apologetic smile.

"Oh, yeah. This is my younger brother Al," Ed introduced. "Al, these are the Teen Titans."

"Hi there!" Al said shyly.


	9. Chapter 9

CHAPTER 9

An Empty Tale

"Wait," Cyborg said waving his arms around. "So you're trying to tell me that this is your brother. This guy in the giant suit of armor who knocked down our door is your little brother?" Al gave a pitiful nod, which made Cyborg moan in complaint. "Now I have seen it all."

"That is just way too cool!" Beast Boy yelled as he jumped around the metal suit. He poked and prodded the joints of the armor. "I have never seen a set of armor like this except in Jumbo Samari Seven!"

"Umm, glad you like it?" Al said nervously. Raven grabbed the green boy by the ear and yanked him off the new visitor. He fell to the floor grumpily and mumbled a few words, in which he received another slap against the head. Al was a little taken aback by the strange new people that surrounded him. They acted so crazy and out of control.

"I thought you said your brother lost his entire body," Robin asked him with all seriousness. He completely bypassed the emotional reuniting of family. Facts were more important. Both of the Elric brothers looked at him apologetically.

"Yes, how can a boy be standing with no body?" Starfire questioned.

"Hey, I have no body!" Cyborg cut in abruptly pointing to his mechanical joints and structures.

"That is some very nice auto mail you have there," Al complemented. "But it's nothing like that."

"Then what is it?" Robin rebuked impatiently. Al shifted his wait around nervously looking at his brother. The only help he got from his brother was a reassuring shrug. He carefully lifted his giant gloved hands and twisted his helmet off of his shoulder. The Titans looked at him expecting to see a terribly mangled body, or a metal skeleton, but instead they saw nothing but a red glow. Al bent over so all of them can look inside of his empty shell. A giant red Philosophers stone laid in the chest of his armor.

"I am guessing brother told you about the night he lost his leg," said Al's voice from the headless antique. "When my body was taken, my brother gave his arm to bring me back, but all he could get was my soul in which he bound to this armor." He pointed to the seal in the back of his body. Gasps escaped from his audience. "See this? This blood seal is what's keeping my soul in this suit."

"Then what about the stone?" Robin interrogated. "How did you get it? And why is it inside you?" Ed stepped forward to help out his brother. Al didn't seem to be taking the pressure to well.

"I was about to tell you before Al showed up," He said glancing faithfully up at his brother's emotionless face. "The man who made the stone, made it inside my brother. The homunculi are after him because they want the stone, they are after me, because they want to some alchemist to do the transmutation."

"Right before I came here they had us too," Al said desperately. The entire room froze, they all wanted to hear what happened to these boys before they were sent over. "The homunculi chained us up and were torturing us. It got to the point where one, named Wrath, was going to rip my brother's limbs off. They were kicking him, blood was everywhere." Al's turned ghostly as he remembered the events with such detail. The Titans stood in fear as they listened to his gory report. All of a sudden, Al broke down into a panic. If a suit of armor could cry it would have shed an ocean. "I just couldn't stand it!" he screamed sinking down to the ground. "Ed I am sorry! I tried to help you! I got free for just a moment and I did it! I used alchemy like you told me not to! There was a flash with the transmutation and you were gone! I accidentally sent you through the gate! I thought I lost you!" A stifling cry filled the room. Ed looked down at his brother in worry. He had no way of comforting him. No words could be spoken, and Ed dared not touch him again. Not with the stone inside him. The entire room just waited out the sobs and the invisible tears. After about ten minutes went by, Ed finally said something, but it wasn't as comforting as he expected.

"Al, you used the stone didn't you when you made the reaction." A short nod came from the tin can on the floor. "Stand up let me see," Ed commanded. Al obeyed his brother and climbed up on his legs. His younger brother investigated his body while keeping a safe distance away. Just as he expected a large section of Al's body was destroyed along with the stone. A Gaping hole underneath his arm revealed the glowing red stone with a chunk taken out of it. "Oh boy," he mumbled.

"What?" Al asked feebly.

"Cyborg can I have the stone?" he asked keeping his focus on Al's missing piece. Cyborg tossed him the canister with no question, and he carefully opened it. A red stream of light flew out of the container. "Al, lay on your side." Al flopped over on the ground. The Titans closed the circle in to see what he was about to do. Ed rolled up his sleeves and carefully and held the canister over top of Al. "By the way this is going to be painful," he said to his little brother and everyone in the room for warning.

"What are you doing?" Al questioned but by that time Ed already tipped the canister and poured its contents onto his broken armor. Ed leaped back as a red flash protruded from his brother. A deafening scream came from the suit of armor. The stone melted on the suit's metal and welded the patch together fixing the broken casing of the stone. After the light calmed down, everyone looked at Al in amazement to see that the deep hole was now gone. Al stood up and to everyone's alarm socked his brother in the face. "What did you do that for?" Ed glanced at him clutching his now red face with his hand.

"When you used the stone, it lost some of its power and mass. You were falling apart. I pieced you back together," he argued defensively. The two brothers stared at each other for the longest time, neither in anger, pity, nor sorrow, but for peace of mind. Beast Boy glanced over at Robin, who looked deep in thought and was rallying up a storm of ideas in his head.

"What do we do now?" Beast Boy asked him softly. Robin glanced at him in full concentration.

"We find a way to send these two home."


	10. Chapter 10

CHAPTER 10

The Time has Come

Storm clouds threatened the skies over Titan's tower. Lightning flashed over the city lighting it up for only a split second to then let it plunge back into the storm's darkness. Thunder rolled overhead as the Titan's gathered around the living room with a few candles lit around them. The candles were their only light since the power went out in the city. As they were all wrapped up in blankets, Raven flew around them in circles studying books which were levitating and soaring along through the room with her. Everyone waited patiently as she took her time scanning every page for the slightest detail. A bolt of lightning flashed again and raven slammed the last book close.

"Ever since you got here I have been researching my books to see if I could find something about this gate of yours," Raven said to Al and Ed. They were both holding a cup of hot cocoa that Starfire gave them. Ed was drinking his down fast, while Al stared at his soaking up the steam evaporating from the rim of the cup. "It acts like a portal right? Through the dimensions of time and space."

"That's the basics, but its not figuring out how we got here it is also finding the gate and getting us back in one whole piece," Ed stated taking a breath from inhaling his hot chocolate.

"So you mean this mysterious gate thing," Beast Boy mimicked Ed's scientific voice, "could chop you up like mince meat?"

"Well, when you go through the gate, your body is separated into three parts, your body, mind, and soul. If only two of these things make it through, you have a chance of being recalled by some other force on the first side of the gate. However if all three parts go through the gate, your body needs to find another way to get all of its pieces back across," Ed said to him, but the green boy just looked as confused as ever.

"What he means to say is that it is like your home. If you step outside of your home and run around the yard, you can always find your way back to it. If you run up and over the hill, you soon find out that you have no clue where your home was located and your lost until you can retrace your steps," Al told him. This seemed to clear up Beast Boy's mind and put him to rest. Al stood up and took his cup of cocoa to the sink to be washed, though it was still full. Robin looked Ed up and down a few times.

"I am guessing you two ran up over the hill then didn't you?" he asked solemnly.

"Yes," Ed said silently. "But at least I can use alchemy in this dimension. That means I can open the gate by myself, the only problem is trying to get our entire selves through to the other side. Otherwise Al and I will be walking aimlessly inside it with neither our minds, nor bodies."

"Raven," Starfire said to her as she dove back into a book on ancient religions. Raven returned her with a slight nod. "You are from another dimension yourself, couldn't you just transport them back to their original place?" Ed and Al looked at he curiously. They did not know she was from another Dimension like herself, or to what extent her powers could withhold. Raven glared at the two of them pitifully.

"It doesn't work like that," she mumbled to them, and their hopeful faces dropped to the ground like rocks. "My powers aren't made from simple science. They come from my soul self. Without knowing how they will interact with your alchemy, and not knowing exactly where your home is located, I could end up sending you into outer space or trapping you within the gate forever."

"Not to mention the fact that your soul self might accidentally come with us through the gate," Ed commented. The room stood in silence for long time thinking about possible solutions, but none came. Several of the Titans started caving in from tiredness as one by one they drifted off to their rooms for a little shut eye. Al, Ed, and Raven remained to look at various books that they pulled off the shelves. They stood staring at the books until a huge yawn came from the demon girl. Though she can usually study longer than anybody else, the Elric brothers had her beat. She started to halfmindedly pick up a few of the books as she walked off to bed. Ed stood up to stop her.

"Wait," he said quietly. "Might my brother and I continue to read? Some of your books are very accurate and we might actually find something." Raven gave a sad nod and placed the books on the coffee table for them.

"I don't know how you stay focused so long, but it sure does work. Just don't forget to get some sleep," she replied as she floated out the door only half awake. Ed and Al sat in the candle light for several long hours after she left. They read chapter by chapter, word for word, of all the books they had in the room. As Al's metal body quietly slumped over for some sleep, Ed kept searching through the pages. It was only when the clock gave a soothing lullaby at 3:00 that he felt his eyes flutter for a short time. Shortly after, though he struggled to stay awake, Ed slumped over on the couch for a night's sleep.


	11. Chapter 11

CHAPTER 11

How'd They Get Here?

"Man, these kids look almost half innocent while sleeping."

"These kids are a pain in the butt, is what you mean. Can't we just get rid of them?"

"You know very well that we can't until we get what we want."

"You mean what YOU want. All I want is to see them in pain, unlike you who still probably have affection for these creeps."

"lets get this over with." Ed's eyes fluttered open tiredly. He was lying on the couch of the Titan's tower it was still dark and the rain clouds still pattered on the windows. The candles must have burnt out in the night because there was no light coming into the room. He sat up slowly and tiredly massaged his lethargic face. As he looked up a lightning flash illuminated the room. For a split second he saw a face looking devilishly at him. Envy. Ed gave out a gasp but he was suddenly muffled by several pairs of hands which flew down to restrain him. He struggled against the powerful grip of the intruders, but the more he struggled the more the pushed him down. His foot managed to kick one of them in the face but he simply got a foot back in return. Another lightning bolt shot across the sky. Within that second, Ed glanced over at Al who was still unconscious on the couch as a few creatures approached him. Ed tried to call out to him, but the hand still gagged his cries. As he tried to get his arms free, Ed felt a blob of water creep up his body. It surrounded his shoulders and ran down his right arm. His shoulders jerked back and forth trying to shake off the icy chill, but it wouldn't budge. At his attempts to escape a quiet calm voice rang out of the chaos.

"Don't worry," It said. "This won't hurt a bit." Ed's golden eyes looked blindly down at his arm where he felt the water. He heard a terrifying crack and a pop as the water condensed the metal and broke his auto mail to pieces. Fear froze him, but the noise awoken his brother. Horrified cries curled through the air. Al was immediately restrained. One cold hand moved to Ed's paralyzed neck and gave a killing pinch around his collar bone. His mind fluttered into a dazed confusion. Al screamed for him. All went black.


	12. Chapter 12

CHAPTER 12

Stolen

A blood curling scream hurdled itself through the Tower. Bed room doors flew open in a flash as the startled teenage Titans sprinted out into the hallway. Robin counted heads of the frightened team members, who were looking around at each other with wide horrified eyes.

"What the hell was that!" Beast Boy panicked still wearing his deep purple pajamas. The rest of the team were wearing miscellaneous sweat pants and tee shirts.

"Fullmetal," Robin said to him sternly. With a couple gasps, the entire team tore down the corridor. They ran though the fear still shook them to the bone. No one knew what happened, but it had to be bad, so the kept moving. They broke down several hallways and turned around about twelve corners before they reached the living room, to which they finally screeched to a stop. The room was left in shreds. Books were thrown everywhere and the couch was torn to bits. The dark room looked like something that came from a horror film. The Titans started to scour the place for anything, anything at all that might leave them a clue to what happened.

"This obviously wasn't an accident," Beast Boy said flipping over an overturned book. Nothing.

"Of course it wasn't Beast Boy," Starfire squeaked as a flash of lightning flew across the window. A sudden sparkle caught the corner of her eye. Something was protruding out from underneath the shredded couch cushion. She floated daintily across the room to investigate. As she picked up the pillow, a broken chunk of metal laid on the floor. A gasp crept out of her mouth and she nearly dropped the pillow. Cyborg came over to see what was wrong with the red headed girl, and followed her gaze to the floor.

"Definitely no accident," he said as he picked up the hunk of metal he knew so well. It was Ed's arm. It was broken to bits, and soaking wet. The slight memory of him fixing it in the garage flashed through his mind.

"What do you think happened?" Starfire asked warily, half not wanting to know the answer.

"The Hommunculi," Robin interrupted. Everyone turned their eyes to the masked kid, who seemed unturned by the recent event. "Isn't it obvious? The Elrics said that they were being chased by them, and now they found a way through this so called gate, and are trying to finish the job."

"But where could they have taken them? We need to find them!" she started to panic. Raven crossed the room out at a distance towards the window silently. Silence filled the room, all except the frightened mumbles of the alien. Crossing her legs, she started to sit in midair focusing her thoughts in her head. She sat their for a while in complete concentration. A shockwave was sent through the room turning the hairs up on everyone's back as she floated in the quiet breeze of the room. After a while her feet drifted slowly towards the floor, and she turned towards her friends, who were awaiting the answer of her concentration. "I sense people through their souls, so I might not be able to know where the Homunculi are, but I can feel the Elric brothers clear as day. They must have taken them to the piers. That's where I felt them," she said monotone, but a slight streak of alertness followed her voice.

"Why the piers of all places?" Cyborg asked. Robin stepped forward and waved him down.

"Who cares why, we need to go now," he said as he bolted out of the living room towards the garage. As he disappeared around the corner, a fading scream came from him. "TEEN TITANS GO!" and the rest followed him into the night.

_sorry about the short chapters. I promise the next one will be more exciting (I bet you can predict that though). Let me know how it is so far. There is still much more to go on this, don't think the story is over._


	13. Chapter 13

CHAPTER 13

Eyes on the Prize

Ed's golden eyes blinked open into a blurry swirl. His limp body was perched against a cement wall as if tossed there without care. In an attempt to get up he realized that his arm and waist were bolted to the wall. His eyes flickered around the foggy room trying to make sense of where he was. A pained flash jolted through his head as he remembered the vague details of the prior night. Al's scream rang through his head.

The room was silent, and filled to the brim with wooden and steel crates. Shipping boxes were piled high to the ceiling and created a maze throughout the building. A soft sound of water licking the shore could be heard silently out the crooked windows near the ceiling. As his eyes adjusted to the poor light, he could see that these windows were barred with wire. Ed looked around the room for more exits, but then something moved in the corner of his eye. He glanced across the room to catch sight of a pile of armor chained to the opposite wall. It stirred as if trying to give one last attempt to break his restraints. "Al!" Ed cried out in a whisper. The tin can's helmet jolted up in shock.

"Ed!" It replied in its own hushed voice, "Where are we? Are you okay?" Just then the door jolted open and light poured through into the dark room blinding the two brothers. Ed closed his eyes to shade them from the light. Two sets of footsteps entered the room and casted shadows down on the helpless kids. As they halted in front of the boys, Ed glanced one stinging eye up on their captors.

"Having a nice vacation, Fullmetal?" One of the figures said sarcastically. Envy's face glared out from the shadows along with Sloth's motherly figure. Ed glared at the two who stood over him.

"Where are the others? Surely Wrath, Gluttonly, Pride, and Lust wouldn't want to miss their chance to resurrect," Ed asked harshly not turning his eyes from Sloth's. She just gave a small chuckle.

"Not far, Pride and Lust are still off in Amestris taking care of that silly Colonel of yours, but you don't have to worry about them. All you need to worry about is how you are going to help us." Her eyes stood firm against Ed's.

"If I didn't tell you how to use the stone before Sloth, why would you think that I will do it now?" he said defensively, but it was short lived as Envy slammed his foot into Ed's shoulder. A short cry seeped out of his mouth.

"You are going to tell us because the sooner you do the more fun it is for me later," Envy snarled at him. Sloth put her hand on Envy's shoulder firmly.

"Now, Envy, lay off the kid. We need him." She whispered gently. Envy brought his foot off of Ed in reluctance. A breath of air was let out of Ed's lungs as the pressure of the boot was relieved from his damaged shoulder. Sloth turned back to him and brushed his gold bloody hair out of his eyes. "Now how about telling us about that brother of yours?"

"Stay away from Al!" Ed screamed at her. He shook off her playful hand, which sent her good mood out the window. Sloth whipped her hand back and slapped him across the face. Ed's face swung to the left with the Meer impact. He could feel his cheek rush with blood and turn red. Sloth took a few steps back from him as if to let him breathe.

"You should never scream," she calmly scolded him. "It's bad for the voice and it is simply annoying." As the two villains started to make their way towards the door, Ed hollered after them.

"How do you suppose you are going to make me do the transmutation? Without my arm I am just a regular alchemist!" He laugh weakly. The two figures stopped it their tracks for a minute without glancing back his way.

"Don't forget, Wrath is just as strong as you with that arm and leg of his," she called back to him with nothing but a jingle to her voice. As the footsteps fainted, the door closed cutting of all the light from the room.


	14. Chapter 14

*** Sorry for the recent short chapters, but I don't have much time right now. The next chapter should be longer and more "exciting". **

**...**

CHAPTER 14

The Scout

"Starfire, is there any sign of them?"

"Not yet Robin," Starfire called into her communicator. She and Raven were flying around the piers scouring for any sign of the lost Elric brothers. So far, nothing came up. The entire docking bay was deserted except for a few pieces of machinery which were used to transport the shipments. Starfire was just about to give up hope when her communicator rang out again. This time, Raven's voice spoke out of the tiny contraption as calm as ever. "Found something near Storage Block 352 C. The lights are on and it seems that some people are walking around way past buisness hours."

"Good job Raven," Robin replied. "Everyone meet up a block away from there. We don't want to advance until we know what we are up against."

Cyborgs voice ran through the line now. "Yeah, I mean if they took down the Elric brothers they were definitely stronger than we might expect." The entire team met on the roof of a storage facility three buildings down from where Raven was scouting. Starfire picked up Cyborg along the way to help him up the building, but Robin simply climbed up the drainage pipe. Beast Boy was sent undercover to investigate the building a little more for the sake of the team. Scurrying along as a little mouse, Beast boy shuffled his tiny legs through the door of 352 C. On his way in, he spotted a large scary man near the door looking hungry as ever. He was completely bald, and though he couldn't quite put his finger on it, the henchman didn't seem quite human. Beast Boy stayed to the far wall from the fat starving creature, and continued along down the room. He winded his way past several towering crates and shipment boxes. It was only when he looked up to the ceiling that he noticed that two people were perched on the banisters. The two pale creatures looked as bored as ever as they looked down around the empty room, completely skipping over the tiny mouse running through the maze of theirs. Beast Boy took note of them and kept on racing his tiny feet through the facility. After looking for another room, he found himself running down a flight of stairs. It seemed to lead to a dark, more abandoned storage room. The crates here were covered in dust and the windows let in little to no light. Beast Boy's night vision came in use as he snuck his way around the dark damp room. He ran through a tiny puddle and around a few boxes before he noticed a slump object on the right wall. It was Ed. Beast Boy raced over to him and perched himself on the metal knee of his friend. His body looked beaten and his clothes were basically torn to shreds. Ed's body laid slack in his bonds as if too tired to lift up his own weight. Since he didn't know Beast Boy was there, the small mouse peddled its way onto his shoulder and tickled his face with its whiskers. Ed let out a mumble and tried to swat whatever was tickling him away but his only arm was tied up. He ended up swatting the thing off his shoulder with a flick of his head. The small mouse went tumbling down into his lap with a dazed confusion. Beast Boy then jumped up and down trying to get his attention yet again, but to no prevail. Getting a little annoyed at the oblivious kid, he ended up just turning back into his original form and slapping Ed across the face. This startled Ed completely and snapped him out of his depressed trance. He looked the green boy in the face and gave a little nod of recognition. With that Beast Boy quietly slipped back into darkness as a cockroach and slipped through the tiny barred windows high above them into the outside world. The only thing he left was a tiny white piece of chalk.

The Changeling rejoined his friends on top of their lookout point a little tired from all of the running he did. Through the panting and heavy breathing, he managed to give his lead a successful grin. "There are three guards. One fat guy at the door and two on the high banister. The Elrics are in the basement," He gasped and fell on the floor for a tiny break, but Cyborg simply picked him back up and set him back to his feet.

"Did you give it to him?" Raven asked Beast Boy. He gave a tired nod.

"If we are going to go get him, why did we need to make sure he had a stupid piece of chalk?" Beast boy panted. "I ran about ten mouse miles to get that to him."

"In order for us to save them both, the Elric Brothers must also help themselves," Robin said simply, and he left it at that. Raven told him that alchemy can also be done with a circle instead of just your hands like Edward did. In order for the team to get him out, Ed needed to help them along the way. Robin gave a quiet signal for approach and lept off of the building towards 352 C.


	15. Chapter 15

**Sorry bout that. Uploaded wrong chapter. Here it is the real thing. srry for not updating in a while. out exploring the wilderness.**

CHAPTER 15

The End is Near

Several teenagers bolted through the two huge metal doors to Storage block 352 C. They were all ready to fight at the first sight of violence, everyone posed to attack. They didn't come here to have fun, they needed to save their friend. But when the doors broke down it looked as if the lot had been abandoned. The crates were left stacked to the ceiling in dust, and the windows were closed like a normal facility. Silence stood through the room and the Titans looked around in utter curiosity.

"Beast Boy, I thought you said that there were three guards here," Robin said to him frustrated at the green boy's mistake. Beast Boy changed from his alerted tiger form back to his scrawny self.

"Hey! I swear there were three of them!" Beast Boy said defensively. There were two stick figures and a big fat round one!" The team rolled their eyes in annoyance at the kid. He was always exaggerating things and making up stories, though it was unlike him to do it at a time like this. All of a sudden a crackling laughter came from behind them. To their surprise, a tall pale person was standing behind them. A grin that could curdle dairy laid smack across his face as the being kept laughing at the five teenagers. "That's him!" Beast Boy exclaimed to the rest of the team.

"I can't believe it!" the pale man screamed in laughter. "The Elric's rescue crew is a bunch of teenagers!"

"Let them go, their just kids," Raven said to him, a streak of rage was heard through her normally monotonous voice.

"Wow you are a very demanding child," he snarled at her. "I don't quite like your attitude. You kids are all the same. Thinking they own the place, but soon you'll come to realize that where you stand is no place where you want to be demanding any attention." Just then two figures jumped down from the shadows above them and landed next to their team mate. A huge fat man gleamed at them with a starving eye and licked his chops. Yet again to their surprise, the person next to him was a young boy with black hair, but what was strange about him was that his arm and leg didn't seem to match his body. Robin looked into the boy's eyes and noticed a gleam. The same one Edward had when he fought against the Hive, but it was more deranged and twisted. The Pale man gave them a wrinkled smile, "Three against five seems fair. Gluttony, Wrath," he said nonchalantly, "Lets get them."

Gluttony launched himself with a round of crazy laughter at Cyborg. Cyborg tried to defend himself from the maniac but was tackled to the ground by the mere weight of the hommunculi. He struggled to get his arms free from underneath the fat buffoon but it was impossible. As Gluttony licked his salivating chops and opened his mouth towards the metallic man, a green bolt shot him right in the face, sending him backwards to the floor. Cyborg raced to get up and shot a few sonic blasters at the beast. "I can't believe that thing was going to bite me!" Cyborg screamed a little grossed out at the thought of being someone's meal..

As Starfire and Cyborg blasted the obese mess, Wrath targeted Robin and gave him a roundhouse knocking the boy Wonder across the room in surprise. Robin crashed into a pile of crates. The wooden boxes fell to the floor with a clatter and the contents spilled out across the floor. Millions of kitchen knives and blenders fell to the concrete with a crash. Robin was lucky enough to dodge a couple of falling cleavers barely avoiding being shopped to mincemeat. Wrath charged the masked boy and gave another couple of swings to the head, but were blocked and fended off. Another round house came towards Robin, but he ducked under it and took hold of the child's leg. He swung his arms around and launched the kid across the room into another pile of crates. Robin chased after the flying kid to where he had landed, but saw no sign of him anywhere. The only thing remaining was a pile of broken wood and kitchen supplies soon to be sold half off. A sudden electrical flash came from behind him, and Robin spun around to see Wrath holding a couple of knives, but as the boy charged him, he soon saw that they were attached to his arm. As if the knives were a part of his flesh now. A little stunned, Robin barely dodged the boy's stab for his face, only missing the blades by a mere inch. He then took out his staff and started to deflect the kitchen tools that Wrath started to wield at him.

Across the room, Raven and Beast Boy were having a hard time dodge Envy's fast attacks. Beast Boy was tripping over himself trying to block and fend off the man's wild kicks and jabs. Raven was trying to help her friend by telepathically throwing crates and rubbish bins at the assailant but he quickly dodge them with little hesitation. A crate flew by Beast boy's head just clipping his ears as Raven tried to turn its path away from her friend. "Hey! I am not target practice!" Beast Boy yelled at her jumping over a ground sweep Envy threw at him. Raven rolled her eyes as she redirected the crate towards the pale man.

"This would be a lot easier if you weren't always in the way," Raven huffed at the green goblin.

"Its not my fault!" Beast Boy said before ducking a round house.

"You two sound like an old married couple," Envy laughed giving another swing at the green boy's shoulder.

Both Raven and Beast Boy seethed in anger. "We are not old!" they said together. Beast Boy launched his green snake body towards Envy. However the man just wrapped his thin pale hands around his tail and whipped him at the ground. Beast Boy smacked his head on the floor and returned back to his original form rubbing his green head. But Envy still had hold of his leg and started spinning him around in the air. A faint pitiful scream could be heard from the boy as Envy launched the kid into a pile of crates with amusement. Caught off guard, Raven managed to nail Envy in the back with a flying garbage can and he went soaring into another pile of merchandise next to Beast Boy. Dust and package filling flew everywhere blocking Raven's view of her friend and foe. She ran towards the spot where she saw Beast Boy dissappear and started looking around frantically in the dust and packaging. As the dirt started to settle, Raven saw Beast boy fighting someone a few feet away, but as she ran foreward to help, she noticed that Beast Boy was fighting himself. Where Envy should have been, there was an identical green body dealing out his own defensive moves and kicks. Her body froze in shock not knowing which one to help. It could be either of them, her funny little goof ball or a crazy evil maniac. One of the green boxers saw her out of the corner of his eye.

"Raven, what are you doing? Help me!" he cried to her nearly taking a swipe to the stomach. He turned into a bird and flew around to the back of his attacker to try and get a better shot. The other green figure gave a back flip and swung his legs around kicking the bird into the wall. Raven started to panic as she looked from one patch of green to the other. Which one is it! Beast boy laid against the wall struggling to get up as the other one approached him maliciously. His body ached from all of the pounding it took and he realized that his arm wouldn't work right. A foot was placed against his chest pinning him there to the wall shooting a warm shock up his left shoulder.

"You know kid, you shouldn't even try with her," he said nodding his head back towards the utterly shell shocked girl. "She's much too good for a kid who can't beat himself." Beast Boy closed his eyes to prepare for the worst as he saw a foot that was bound for his head, but the pain never came. Instead he heard a gargling and choking noise coming from above him To his astonishment he saw his other self standing above him with several knives through his chest. He gave a scream of horror as he saw himself fall to the ground dead. "RAVEN! You Killed me!" he panicked. The dead body resumed the form of its old self in a pile of blood on the floor. But as Beast boy turned to see Raven, she was still frozen in shock where she stood before. A soft tap was given on his shoulder and the green boy let out a scream before whirling around to face Robin.

"Beast Boy get a hold of yourself," Robin commanded and slapped him across the face silencing his terrified screams. Robin started to tie the corpse up with his utility rope and Beast Boy saw that Wrath was there too on the ground unconscious. The knives that pierced through Envy's chest were also morphed into Wrath's arms like they were a part of his flesh. He winced at the though of having bladed hands. Robin could sense his confusion and turned around towards him. "I saw you getting your but kicked so I tried to help. Unfortunately, my arms were full with Wrath so I just threw him."

"You could have killed him," Raven said, snapping back into reality. "How did you know it was the real him?"

"Raven, Beast Boy can't do a back flip for his life." Robin replied. Just then something crashed into the wall beside them and cement flew everywhere. A couple of star bolts shot out of nowhere almost hitting Raven in the head. The three of them couldn't see through the dust cloud, but they saw a couple flashes and heard signs of struggle. As it settled down, Starfire and Cyborg walked out, tired and worn, but victorious as Robin could tell by the looks on their face. Where the wall has been knocked down. Gluttony stood unconscious and tied up with miscellaneous pipes from the wall's interior. As they approached Raven noticed that Cyborg was limping a bit to his left. There was a huge chunk missing from his right leg and in its place several bite marks could be seen.

"He ate me!" Cyborg complained as he stalked over to the three Titans. "I don't know how those boys can fight these people if this one is a walking garbage disposal!"

Starfire nodded in agreement. "Yes these not friends of his are really strange and strong. It must be hard for those two too…" A scream suddenly broke through the building. It chilled the titans' blood and sent shivers up their spines.

"Come on!" Robin commanded as he rushed towards the stairwell having Beast Boy lead the way. Everyone followed them into the dark storage dungeon.


	16. Chapter 16

CHAPTER 16

Water Everywhere

Al screamed out Ed's name as a watery blob started to move towards his brother, who was recently parked along a couple of crates trying to get his balance. Somehow Ed was able to get a piece of chalk and free himself of his bondages, but only having one arm was throwing his balance off. Just as Ed turned around a tidal wave of water smacked him to the ground. A spark of electricity appeared in the darkness, and steam filled the room. _He must have heated the floors to boil Sloth._ Al thought to himself quietly as he struggled against the chains that glued him to the wall. He looked around to see if there was a odd colored rock that he could draw his own transmutation circle with, but then he remembered it was useless. If he were to attempt alchemy again it might end up worse than the last time. Not only could he send them to another dimension, but he could accidentally destroy one as well. With a stone as big as he was, there was no telling what might accidentally happen. He watched helplessly as his brother battled the watery blob. Being so off balanced, Ed stumbled over himself awkwardly trying to find his footing as water whips lashed out at him. Al knew he wasn't the only one who was completely up the creek. Without his right arm, performing alchemy was a difficult task for his brother, especially when someone is out to destroy you. Al watched in horror as Ed was sent to the ground with a lash of water. As Ed tried to stand up, the water form took the shape of their mother and casually walked over to him.

"Why do you always try to escape? Are trying to make this more difficult than it has to be?" She pinned Ed to the ground with her foot on his chest. A small mumble came from his brother. Sloth bent down to get a better listen. "What did you say? Speak up, I bet your brother would like to hear what you have to say before its too late."

"I said, it is pretty stupid of you to come straight up to an alchemist like this and forget that he still has a transmutation circle!" Ed chuckled. Right next to him, a small white transmutation circle was drawn on the ground. Al couldn't help but smile (to the best that a suit of armour in this situation could) at his brother's wit and watched as Sloth was launched to the opposite side of the wall by a cement pillar. When she hit the door, her body splattered into water droplets. Ed raced over to where his younger brother laid chained against the wall and freed him with a flash of electricity.

"Thank you brother," Al said to him, but then noticed that the water droplets where reforming back to their original position. Just as it was about in full form, the door flung open and splattered them back to the ground. Five Titans stared back at them from the doorway.

"Friends are you alright?" Starfire screamed out at them. She flew over and grasped each one into their own individual bear hug. This squeezed the life out of Ed, but Al just stood there as he could not feel a thing.

"Yeah, we are fine, but I wouldn't get too overjoyed just yet, there are still homunculi swarming around, we need to get out of here," Ed warned them after he caught his breath from the killer hug.

"Yes we know," Robin stated. "We ran into three of your friends back upstairs. I don't think they're too happy we came." As all of the teenagers ran towards the glowing doorway, a blue flash zoomed behind them and launched itself at Al. The armor strangled around itself to get the blue shiny substance off of him, but it just slipped into his armor. He tried to pull his head off to get at the water, but his arm flew out and punched Robin in the face sending him to the ground.

"Ed! She's in me! She's in me!" Al's voice panicked as his body was launched towards Cyborg, slamming the metal teen into the storage crates near the back wall.

"Al, stay calm," Ed tried to tell him, but was cut off by a wild swinging fist. It cut close to him and hit the air where his right arm should have been. Ed dodged his attacking brother and backed away to get some space.

"Brother, I can't fighter her. You are going to have to take me down!" Al screamed at him as Sloth moved his body into a counter attack against Beast Boy, who tried to sneak up on him from behind. As Beast Boy was flung into the wall, Ed ran over towards Raven, who was helping Cyborg up off the ground. His leg though only damaged before, was completely torn off with the impact of Al's hit. His robotic limb was tucked under his arm as he leaned against his friend for support.

"Raven, I can't use alchemy on my brother," Ed said to her. Starfire started to shoot some starbolts at the rampaging suit.

"I know how you feel, Ed, but we need to stop him or else he is going to take down the storage facility," Raven stated back to him.

"No! I mean I literally can't use alchemy on him, It might send this whole building, maybe even the whole town into a disaster zone! I need you to get Sloth out of him. The rest of us can try to restrain Al, but you need to get all of the water out of my brother's body. That's the only way to stop the armor from tearing up the place!'' Ed commanded. She gave a soft nod.

"Sorry Cyborg," she mumbled as she dropped the athlete's body where it stood. A soft cry came out of him, but they were already leaving to go fight his brother. Al was thrashing his body around at anyone who came near him. Starfire flew a little too close and was grabbed by the ankle and whipped into the wall. Sloth, seeing that Ed was advancing, started to charge at him. Ed frantically took his little nub of chalk and started to draw a transmutation circle on the ground. Just when Al was going to collide with him, a grappling hook wrapped its way around the metal body and tripped it, making Al and Sloth hit the ground with a clang. Robin ran over to try and help keep Al down, but before he got there, the metal armor broke through the wire on his grappling hook. Beast Boy, coming from behind wrapped an anaconda body around the metal being. Ed slammed his only hand down on the transmutation circle and a giant gravel hand came up and grabbed onto the armor trapping it in place. Raven immediately flew down to Al before he could try and escape and placed a hand on the cold steel. With a mumble of her cantation, her hand became incased in dark mist. Her arm slowly faded through the chest plate with no warning and tore out the hommunculus's body from the suit. Immediately after, the gravel hand collapsed to the ground and Al stumbled back trying to get his balance.

"That's so gross!" Al shivered. He glanced over to where sloth was and saw that she was unconscious on the ground. He hair fell around her face just like mother's use to. He let out a sigh.

"What are you thinking about?" Raven asked behind him. Al was almost startled at how quiet it got.

"I was thinking about how she looks exactly like our mother," He sighed again.

"Looks can be deceiving, Al," Ed said behind him. All limped over to where Sloth laid and started to slowly draw a circle around her. The chalk bumped unevenly against the rugged floor. "We both know that she's long gone." His hand flowed across the floor as runes started to lay themselves out.

"Brother what are you going to do?" Al asked him softly. Ed didn't reply, but he already knew the answer. Al walked over to where Ed stood over the limp body of Sloth and placed his own hand on the circle. Ed looked at him, a little afraid. "I want to do it," Al said calmly.

"Al, you can't, the stone," Ed started but Al already lit the circle with a soft glow.

"I just don't want you to have one more thing on your chest," Al replied. Sloth's body started to turn into a greenish water. Steam slowly evaporated off of her. The Titans stared at the two brother gathered around the circle. "Out of everything we did together. I just want something to be put on my shoulders for once. We have done all of this together. You shouldn't be the only one to carry it." Al slowly stood up and watched as Sloth melted into the air. The room was as thick and still as a rock. No one moved or said anything, just watched the homunculus fade away.

After all of the particles faded, Ed stood up next to his brother and asked, "So what are we going to do now?"

"Go Home." The Titans all nodded in agreement.

**Too many fight scenes at once! AHH. Sryy bout the delay. don't worry almost done.**


	17. Chapter 17

CHAPTER 17

Mission There and Back Again

The Titan's and the Elrics were all in the lounge sore a bruised from their battle earlier. Their battle against the homunculi was more than nerve racking for the team and all were trying to regain their senses. Edward was currently absorbed in reading Raven's vast collection of books while his automail was being dried. He didn't put the limbs on yet because they were wet from the water in the basement. It was better that he didn't get electrocuted. Cyborg, who didn't like the fact that his leg was now inside a walking garbage disposal, was lying down on the couch having nowhere better to go. Al was watching him intently, as Cyborg started to fix a prototype leg for a replacement.

"Al, I know what you're thinking," Ed said to him, not looking up from one of the many books he was reading. "I am not getting a bionic leg." The book was in his lap as he turned the page awkwardly with his left hand.

"But come on brother! They look so neat! I am sure Winry would love to see automail like this!" Al said in a pleading voice.

"Winry would use me as a test subject with all of her crazy model she would make out of that. It would blow her mind with all that technology packed into it."

"I am sure half of the tech that I have in this leg wouldn't even work in your world. It seems like you don't even have computers yet let alone GPS and rockets," Cyborg added. Al looked down trodden as he almost forgot how limited their technology was.

"It would still be nice to see the look on her face if we showed her a bionic leg," he pouted.

"Yes it would," Edward said happily almost in a dream, but then a thought snapped him out of it. "Right after she hits me with a wrench about not coming home on time."

"Ed, you shouldn't have scheduled your tuning so close to a mission. You know you would have been late anyway."

"It was Colonel Bastard that assigned us that stupid mission in the first place!" Ed argued defensively. "How was I supposed to know that we'd somehow get magically teleported here?" there was a long pause after that. It was as if the entire room was sent into a single thought. None of them willing to say what was on their mind. Al finally spoke up.

"How are we going to get home?" he asked innocently, but his voice betrayed him. He already knew the answer. They didn't know.

"We don't have any circles to work off of since we didn't use one to get here. There is also the fact that we need a toll to get back across. I am afraid that with that stone inside of you, the Gate might think that you are its payment," Ed said gravely. He shut the book that he was reading and set it aside.

"What about the homunculi?" Al asked. "We just can't leave them here. They don't belong." After the battle, the Titans made their special containment units for the unconscious beings. They made sure that the units were smooth and seamless so that Gluttony couldn't get a bite at it. Wrath was being held in a dark force orb so that he couldn't transmute anything.

"We are going to have to take them back with us, as much as I hate to admit it. Unfortunately that would only increase the toll," Ed replied. Just then Starfire flew over to the two brothers holding two rather lumpy metal objects in her hands.

"You're limbs are fully dried! Let us put you back together!" she exclaimed. She started to shove the arm towards Ed, but he pushed her away in defense.

"Hold on! They don't go like that! Wait!" he said as the girl kept trying to help him by shoving the metal pieces in his face. Cyborg eventually, after laughing at his friend, leaned over and restrained Starfire.

"Star, let the kid do it himself," he chuckled. As Starfire backed away apologetically, Ed was going to give a retort on being called a kid, but refrained. He was just glad that the girl didn't smother him with his own limbs. Ed carefully pushed his asymmetrical body off of the couch and onto the floor in a sitting position. He laid the automail on the floor next to him as he took off his shirt. The Titans, like Beast Boy, Starfire, and Robin, who didn't see his automail ports before, all gave tiny gasps as they looked at where his limbs would have been. Several scars that even Cyborg didn't see before, lined his shoulders at where the surgery was done in order to get the ports plugged into his system. Ed carelessly tossed his sweat shirt aside and grasped the metal arm with his other. As he attached the limb, His face became distorted with pain and he let out a small grunt. The Titans stared in awe as he did the same with his leg. After all body pieces were intact, Ed lent back against the bottom of the sofa as sighed. Something started to prod his arm, and he looked up. Beast Boy was poking the metal as if he expected something to happen. Ed just gave him a glare.

"I think you might have connected it wrong. It doesn't look like you can move it," Beast Boy said to him.

"Ed can move it, but he has to wait until all of his nerves connect unless he wants to risk a complete shutdown," Al informed him. Beast Boy just gave him a confused look.

"It means I can't move for at least half an hour after connection," Ed said and he pushed beast Boy off of him.

"I guess that's one thing that bionics don't have to do," Cyborg said as he plugged his own leg into his body. As soon as he did so, he was able to stand up and stretch out. Ed turned green. "So who wants pizza?" Cyborg said changing subjects. All of a sudden, Raven gasped. This made everyone else gasp because they weren't so used to Raven doing anything as brash as a hiccup before. Everyone turned to see what made her cry out, except for Ed who tried to tilt his head back as far as it could go before nearly snapping off his neck.

"I got it," Raven exclaimed trying to regain her normal composure. She failed to do so however. "I know how to get you home!"


End file.
